04 March 2014

Rare 16thC Tailoring Manuscripts

Two historical costuming GODS I know are putting out a book of previously unavailable to the lay scholar 16thC Tailor books!!! These are seriously amazing and I just had to post about the project. Here's a snippet from their Kickstarter:

A book by Katherine Barich and Marion McNealy

"Extant garments from
the 16th century are very rare, and are such a small sample of the wide
variety of garments which were worn, that many questions are left
unanswered. About twelve years ago, Drea Leed posted microfiche scans of
the Leonfelder Schnittbuch on her website. I was entranced by these
line drawings of pattern shapes laid out on the cloth. There were no
drawings of the finished garments, just the pieces on the page. It was
like a puzzle, in which you had pieces, and several possible pictures
that the pieces might make.

I made one dress from the
Leonfeld Schnittbuch, and set out on a long path to learn more about
this book, and whether there were any more to be found. Over the years, I
have found and studied two more Austrian tailor’s masterbooks: Enns
(1590), and Nidermyer (1560), as well as a few German ones which will
not be included in this volume.

Drei Schnittbücher is the result
of a collaborative effort between Katherine Barich and myself to
publish these three rare Austrian tailors' guild masterbook manuscripts,
or schnittbuch.What is a Tailor's Masterbook?

A tailor’s
masterbook contains drawings of all of the major garments and other
items that a Master Tailor would be expected to make. Tailors didn't
just make clothing, but also tents, saddle covers, flags, wagon covers,
and clothes for the clergy. These books were the master books for the
Tailors Guilds, which they contained the material that the journeyman
would be tested on to become a master.

These books do not
include all the information that the aspiring master would have needed
to know, however because of this, we have gone beyond a simple
translated facsimile of the manuscripts, and have included the
additional information that the journeyman would have needed to know to
pass the exam."

Honestly, if historical clothing is at all your thing, you are going to want a copy of this book: